The Legend of Korra Newbie Recap: “A Leaf In the Wind”
With zero chest stabbings!
In the second episode of The Legend of Korra we’re introduced to two more main characters, one of whom is the spiky-haired brooder Mako. I have four seasons left with this asshole?
But first: Korra’s airbending training has begun. Tenzin has his work cut out for him, because not only has Korra never been able to airbend before, she’s pretty much the least likely airbender ever. She’s hot-headed, has no patience, and just wants to break curfew and go to a pro-bending match over on the mainland.
Part of her training involves this spinning… panel… thing that encourages the use of smooth, flowing spiral motion. It’s how how Aang always went on the defense during his fight, avoiding blows instead of doling them out. Korra is… not great at it.
Later, after she tries to force herself to airbend and just fireblasts a newspaper picture of Lin Beifong instead (Korra, chill on Lin, she was just doing her job), Korra scampers off to a guard tower to listen to a pro-bending match on the radio. It’s not technically against house rules, but Tenzin dings her for it anyway. The next day during meditation lessons she goes off on him for being a hypocrite who’s restricting her freedom. None of this is working, meditation is bullshit, ARRRGH ARRRRGH ANGRY TEENAGER ARRRGGGHHH.
That night, Korra sneaks off of Tenzin’s island (I’m noticing a theme) and swims to the bright lights of Republic City, where she ends up in the pro-bending arena. There, she meets two of the athletes: The flirty, friendly, but kind of dumb Bolin (physical incarnation of a golden retriever) and his brother Mako, aka that love triangle guy I know about.
Mako is… sigh.
That’s not a happy dreamy sigh, though I think that’s what the writers were going for. It’s a “This is the guy? This spiky-haired fuck? Really?” sigh. Bolin’s friendly to Korra, but Mako’s a jackass to this girl he just met because he immediately assumes he’s one of Bolin’s groupies. (So what if she is, Mako? Be friendly to the groupies.) I know he turns into a main character, and I have four seasons left with him, so I’m going to try and cut him some slack and not decide I hate the dude instantly, but it’s not a good start. Maybe he’ll turn around.
We’re treated to a pro-bending match, with the Fire Ferrets (Mako, Bolin, and Some Dude) up against the Tigerdillos (I’m on their side because of the name). It’s a pretty cool sport, but I still feel like we didn’t need five minutes of it. But I just watched the ATLA finale a few weeks ago, so my standards for bending fight scenes are still really high.
Mako manages to pull out an upset victory against the Tigerdillos after his teammates are thrown out of the ring, which causes Korra to go all “Hey boy heyyyyyy.” Please. No. I get that “romantically inexperienced girl falls for brooding bad boy who’s really rude to her but maybe she can chaaaaange hiiiiiiim” is a time-honored teen drama trope, and also that I’m not exactly the target audience here, but… can we not go in that direction, please? Can we do a thing that’s not that?
After the match, Korra asks Bolin to show her some pro-bending tricks, which leads to Bolin and Mako figuring out she’s the Avatar. Bolin goes full fangirl, while Mako stands in the corner being pointedly unimpressed like he’s trying to be a cool anime hero or some shit. I do, however, appreciate his eyebrow game:
The next day, back at the island, Korra continues to be an awful airbender on top of blowing up at Tenzin and accusing him of being a bad teacher. She sneaks off to Republic City again, this time joining Mako and Bolin’s team for the championship match after their teammate punks out on them. Katara’s not particularly good at pro-bending, a fact that Mako’s eager to point out despite the fact that she’s known about the sport for all of 24 hours and has had no opportunity to learn the rules. She accidentally earthbends, outing her as the Avatar; listening to a shocked radio announcer relate a play-by-play of the match, Tenzin discovers that his charge has gone AWOL. He goes to the arena and confronts her, and Korra loses it, saying she what she really needs to learn is modern fighting styles, not hippie-dippie spiral nonsense.
However, during the final match, that hippie-dippie spiral nonsense finally clicks, like Tenzin said it would, and she ends up leading her team to victory. Mako, begrudgingly impressed, admits that Korra is a natural. The next day, Korra and Tenzin apologize to each other–Korra for taking her frustrations out on Tenzin, Tenzin for being impatient and for not realizing that different people learn different ways.
We end the episode with Mako sitting on the top of the arena (he and Bolin live in the attic), staring across the water at the island like a quasi-cool brooding wannabe Brontë hero jackass with spiked hair.
KILL ME.
Just watched ep2 of Korra. Trying reeeeeal hard not to dislike brooding asshole hero w/ the spiky hair Mako right off the bat, but it’s hard
— Rebecca Pahle (@RebeccaPahle) May 8, 2015
He gets better, right? Tell me he gets better. Or at least more tolerable. — Rebecca Pahle (@RebeccaPahle) May 8, 2015
All told, I didn’t love this episode: It wasn’t awful, and I think I’ll like Bolin, but Mako… yeeeeeahhhhh. And the neverending pro-bending scene. And, to be honest, HEIGHTENED EMOTIONS YELLING ALL THE TIME KORRA, which is something I hope the show cools off on. I get that it’s a realistic portrayal of how teenagers behave, and fuck, I had my share of obnoxious moments too, but there’s a reason I don’t particularly relish being around teenagers now.
On balance, though, I’m still liking it. And I had my first “OMG I LOVE THIS CHARACTER. MY CHILD. MY CHILD” moment, as I previously did with Tigh (BSG) and Azula (ATLA). JINORA:
I have no clue how big a role the eldest (I assume?) of Tenzin’s three children is going to have in the show–I suspect not much, as she’s more ATLA age–but I will relish every moment she’s standing off to the side being a quietly competent bookworm and judging everyone else’s immaturity.
Rebecca has newbie recapped Avatar and Battlestar Galactica for The Mary Sue before. She photoshopped The Rock’s head on a dolphin once. You can find her at Film Journal International, Pajiba, or on Twitter.
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